A support of the foregoing type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,236. This reference relates to a rolling bearing unit for vehicle wheels, wherein rows of rolling bodies are arranged between two bearing rings. The outer ring as well as the inner ring are provided with flanges or the like, by means of which the rolling bearing unit is mounted, i.e. the wheel is supported. The flange of the outer ring, which is integrally formed with the sleeve-shaped raceway portion of the outer ring, is provided with circumferentially distributed, axially directed threaded mounting holes for attachment. In the case of frequent strong impulsetype loads, transmitted from the wheel of the vehicle to the rolling bearing during operation, strong torques occur in addition to the purely radial force components, whereby one or more bolts transmit the entire load as an axial force on a relatively small peripheral portion of the flange. Consequently the flange undergoes, particularly in the area of the threaded holes, strong bending stresses in relation to the raceway portion, which constantly change during rotation of the wheel. For this reason the material, particularly in the transition region between the flange and the sleeve-shaped portion, is subjected to severe fatigue stresses, which can lead relatively prematurely to cracks in this area and failure of the rolling bearing unit. In order to resist fracture formation, the transition region, particularly in the area of the annular juncture between the flange and the sleeve-shaped portion, should be formed without a sharp corner; on the contrary, a rounding of small radius should be provided, which rounding is generally automatically produced by machining. In the embodiment depicted in the cited prior art reference, the flange as well as the raceway portion are slightly conically sloping. The two conical surfaces meet each other in a more or less sharp corner and consequently lead to the aforementioned disadvantage.
The same problem arises in the area of the threaded holes. In order to make it possible to form the threads, recesses are formed in the sleeve-shaped raceway portion axially of the flange, the recesses being sleeve-shaped bores with flat bottoms. The flat bottom surfaces also merge with the partly cylindrical inner surfaces of the recesses by way of sharp transitions. In this way in the area of each threaded hole there is the danger of the formation of a stress fracture and hence the danger of failure of the rolling bearing arrangement.
The above-described disadvantage can be found in all rolling bearings (i.e. rolling bearing arrangements) when, for example, the outer or inner rings comprise separate machine parts and are supported by corresponding supports having sleeve-shaped and flange-shaped parts.